Expression-device control.



J. W. BRYCE.

EXPRESSION DEVICE CONTROL.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.22.19I6.

1,278,845 Patented Sept. 17, 1918 66 7 IM/ENTOR A TTOR/VEV UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE.

JAMES \VARES BRYCE, OF BLOOMFIELD, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE AEOLIANCOMPANY, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

EXPRESSION-DEVICE CONTROL.

Application filed December 22, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES amas BRYCE, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, and a resident of Bloomfield, Essex county, and State of NewJersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inExpressionDevice Controls, of which the following is a specification,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a partthereof.

My invention relates to improvements in remote control for expressiondevices for musical instruments and more specifically for, electricallyactuated means for controlling the expression devices for phonographssuch, for example, as a valve for varying the volume of sound producedby such an instrument.

Its object is to provide a simple, efficient and sensitiveelectro-responsive actuating mechanism for expression devices with amanually operable graduated current control device, by means of which aperson at any desired distance from a musical instrument may controlsuch an expression device, atwill.

In order that my invention may be thoroughly understood 1 will nowproceed to describe the same in the following specific; tion and thenpoint out the novel features thereof in appended claims.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of certain parts of aphonograph or the like, with actuating and control devices embodying myinvention applied thereto. the latter being shown diagrammatically.

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of a modified form of sensitiverelay and which forms a part of this invention.

Fig. 3 is a diagram showing certain modifications in the arrangement ofcircuits which may be employed under certain circumstances.

Like characters of reference designate corresponding parts in all thefigures.

10 designates the tone arm of the instrument to be controlled. and 11 apart of its sound chamber; 12 is the expression device, in this case avalve arranged to be moved bv a rod 13 toward or away from its seat, tothereby produce more or less restriction to the size of the soundpassage, and to thereby Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 17, 1918.

Serial No. 138,465.

vary the volume-of sound emitted from the instrument.

1% is the speed governor of the instrument and 15 the friction disk ofthe governor.

The electro-responsive motor is designated generally by the referencenumeral 20. In the specific embodiment of the invention ilustrated, thismotor comprises a pair of similar solenoids 2192, a common core 23, anda dash pot 2st connected with the core. 25 is a bell crank lever pivotedat 26 with one of its arms connected with the core 23 by a link 27 andits other arm connected with the valve rod 13 by means of a rod 28 andanother bell crank lever 29.

30 is a rod extending rigidly from the bell crank lever 25 and carryinga weight 31 by means of which the bell crank lever and the differentelements which are connected therewith, may be countcrluilanccd to adesired extent.

32 is another arm rigidly connected with but insulated from the bellcrank lever This carries at its outer end an electrical contact 33 whichis adapted to slide over and make electrical connection with ariouspoints on a rheostat 34 as the positions of the bell crank lever 25 andof the valve 12 are changed.

%0 is a manually operable current varying or control device whichcomprises a rheo stat a l similar in resistance to the rheostat 31, amovable contact 42 and an actuating thumb or finger piece 43.

A sensitive relay is interposed between this manual control device andthe electroresponsive motor 20. This is designated by 50 and comprisesan electro-ma-gnet 51 which has two spaced poles 5253 and two magnetwindings wound in opposite directions. An arm 56 pivoted at 57 carries apolarized armature 58. This is held by a spring 59 in a position midwaybetween the magnet poles when the latter are not magnetized.

60 is an electric generator which represents a suitable source ofelectric current supply. 61 is a lead from this generator, and 62 aresistance connected therewith. A wire 63 connects this resistance withthe magnet winding 5%. the other end of which is connected by a wire (itwith one end of the rheostat Another wire 65 connects resistance 62 withmagnet winding the other end of which is connected by a wire 66 with theend of rheostat 41. A wire 67 is connected with the contact member 42. Abranch 68 of this wire leads to the contact carrying arm 32 and anotherbranch 69 leads to the other side of the generator 60.

In the circuits 6667, a plug 7 0 is interposed. 7O designates anotherplug which may be conveniently located in another place with which themanual control device may be connected.

71 is a switch by means of which the circuit hereinbefore pointed outmay be opened or closed manually. This is interposed in the wire 69. Anautomatic switch 72 is also interposed in the wire 69. This comprises anarm 7 3 carrying a contact at its outer end and a similar arm 74connected with but insulated from the arm/73. These two arms are ofspring metal and are so arranged that when free to assume their naturalpositions,

will close between them the contacts which they carry, thereby carryingany current which may be passing through the wire 69. The arm 7 1however, is of sufficient length to extend into the path of travel ofthe speed governor contact plate 15 and the parts are so proportionedand arranged that when the speed governor 1 1 is at rest its frictiondisk will engage this arm 74 and separate its contact from that carriedby the arm 73, thus opening the circuit. It is evident however, thatwhen the speed governor is rotated, its friction disk 15 will be removedfrom arm 7 1 and that this will allow the contacts on the arms 74: and 78 to come together.

On the upper end of the pivoted arm 56 is a contact 80 which is arrangedto be moved from side to side against one or the other of two stationarycontacts 81 or 82. A wire 83 is led from the stationary C,OH-- tact 81to the winding of solenoid 22. 8% is another wire from contact 82 to thewinding of solenoid 21. The other ends of these solenoid windings areconnected together by a wire 85 from which a wire 86 runs to thegenerator 60. The other end of the generator is connected by a wire 87with the pivoted arm 56 and its contact 80.

Before describing the devices shown in the other figures of the drawing,I will clescribe the operation of this device. hen the manual controldevice 10 is in the position shown, the sensitive relay 50, the motor 20and the valve -12 will be in the positions in which they are shown. Now,when the phonograph motor (not shown) is started thespeed governor 1 1-will be actuated and this, as has been pointed out, will cause thecontacts on arms 73 74: to be brought together so that it the switch 71is closed two circuits will thereby be closed from the generator 60through the windings of the sensitive relay 50. These may be traced asfollows :first from the gener ator 60 through resistance 62, throughwinding 55, wire 66, contact 42, wires 67 and 69 to generator. Second,from generator 60, through resistance 62, wire 63, winding 54, wire 6 1,contact 33, contact arm 32, and wires 6869 to the other side. of thegenerator.

The current through these two circuits will be equal and as the numberof convolutions in the magnet windings 5455 are equal and opposite,these currents will have noefl'ect whatever upon the magnet 51 and the"pivoted arm 56 will remain in its cen tral position.

Now, if the manual control device moved along on rheostat 41, the firsteffect of this will be to insert a part of the resistance of thisrheostat in the circuit through magnet winding This will immediatelythrow the magnet 51 out of magnetic balance and will cause the polarizedarmature 58 to be drawn to one side, in this case to the right. Thecircuit will thereby be closed to the solenoid winding 21 which circuitmay be traced as follows :fr.om generator 60 to wire 8'7, pivoted arm56, contacts 80-S2 and wire 84L to the solenoid winding 21; thencethrough wires S586 to the other side of the generator. This will ofcourse cause the core 23 to be moved upward. This upward movement will,through the mechanical connections previously described, move the valve12 upward toward its seat to thereby restrict the size of the passagewhich it controls in the sound chamber.

The movement of the solenoid 23 and its connected partswill continueuntil the movable contact 33 reaches a position on rheostat 3a whichcorresponds with the position which the contact 42 now has on rheostat41. This will reduce the current in magnet winding 51 to the same extentthat the current in magnet winding 55 has been reduced and will therebyreestablish the magnetic effect of the magnet windings 54: and 55 andallow the pivoted arm 56 to again assume its central position under theinfluence of spring 59, thereby moving the contact 80 away from contact82 and breaking the circuit through solenoid winding 21 so that the core23 and the parts mechanically connected therewith will come to rest. 7

A further movement of contact 42 on .rheostat 41 in the same directionwill similarly cause a further upward movement of the valve 12.

If the contact 42 is moved back toward solenoid winding 22,thcncc'through wires 85 and 86 back to the generator. In this manner thecore 23 will be moved down ward and this downward movement will beimparted to the valve 12 until the contact arm 33 reaches a position onrheostat 3& cor responding with the new position of contact 12 onrheostat 41. This will, as in the former case, reestablish the balancebetween the magnetic effects of the magnet windings 5i55 and allow thepivoted arm 56 under the action of spring 59 to again assume its centralposition, thus breaking the circuit between contacts 80 and 81.

The dash pot 24, when used, prevents any sudden or jerking movement ofthe electroresponsive motor 20.

Referring now to Fig. 2, the form of sensitive relay there shown,comprises two electro-magnets 51 and 51". Each of these has a polarizedarmature 58 and 58 on pivoted arms which are held away from theirrespective magnet poles by means of suitable springs. Each of thesemagnets also compriseswindings 54c and 55 5% and 55, those of eachmagnet being equal in number of convolutions and wound in oppositedirections.

Vithout specifically tracing the circuits it may be seen that when themagnetic effect of currents passing through windings 5t, 55, 5%, 55 isthrown out of balance, by means ,of manual adjustment of the controldevice 40, one of these magnets will cause its armature to be drawntoward its pole piece and the other will have a tendency to repel itsarmature on account of the fact that these polarized armatures arepolarized in opposite directions. On account of this fact either one orthe other of the magnets 51 51 will close a circuit at S1 or 82 wheneverthe current flowing through the magnet windings is thrown out of balanceand this will in the other case, cause either solenoid winding 21 orsolenoid 22 to be energized to thereby move the valve 12 an amount andin a direction corresponding with the amount and direction of movementof the contact 12 of the manual control device over rheostat etl.

Referring now to Fig. 3, the parts therein correspond with the partsshown in Fig. 1, with the exception that in this case the generator 60is an alternating current generator and that in this case a battery 60is used for the current supply for the magnet windings 5455 and thecircuits therefor including the manual control device 40 and therheostats 11 and 34:. The operation of this form of the sensitive relayand its connected parts is similar to that previously described inconnection with Fig. 1, with the exception that in this case thesolenoid windings 21 and 22 are energized by alternating current fromthe generator 60 and that the core 23 in accordance with the usualpractice should be laminated to work effectively with currents of thischaracter.

Such expression control valves as 12, as have heretofore been used, havebeen actuated by means of mechanicaldevices operable either attheinstrument or within a short distance from the instrument.

There is p actically no limit to the distance from the instrument whichthe operator may desire to assume. I have shown plugs such as and 70 forthe purpose of illustrating the fact that several such plugs may beprovided at places located at different distances from the instrument towhich the manual control device 40 may be attached, sothat the operatormay be able to control the instrument from different desired locations.

Another advantage of this arrangement is that but} two wires arerequired to connect the remote manual control device with the otherparts of the apparatus, all of which may be installed within the soundproducing instrument itself. It is my intention to have the wiresbetween the manual control device and the plug flexible so that theoperator will be able to move freely the hand in which it is held.

The invention is shown as applied to a talking machine or phonograph,but I do not intend to limit myself to this specific case. I haveillustrated several modifications of certain parts of the apparatus toshow that. I do not limit myself to any specific form or construction,and in fact intend no limitations other than those imposed by theappended claims.

VVhat I claim is:

1. An expression control device for musical instrumentscomprising amovable member, a motor arranged to actuate said member differentdesired amounts in opposite directions, and a remote control deviceconnected with said motor whereby said motor may be made to actuate themember to an amount and in a direction desired.

2. An expression control device for musical instruments comprising amovable member, a motor arranged to actuate said member differentdesired amounts in opposite directions, and a remote control deviceelectrically connected with said motor whereby said motor may be made toactuate the member.

3. An expression control device for musical instruments comprising amovable member, an electric motor connected to actuate said memberdifferent desired amounts and in 0pposite directions, and a remotemanual c011- trol device connected with said motor.

1. An expression control device for musical instruments comprising amovable member, an electric motor connected to actuate said member, aremote manual control device for the motor, a sensitive relay balancedmagnetically between the motor and control device, and means actuated bythe manual control device and by the motor for disturbing and restoringthe magnetic balance of the relay.

5. An expression control device for musical instruments comprising amovable member, an electric motor connected to actuate said member, aremote manual control device for the motor comprising an adjustablecurrent varying element, a sensitive relay having opposed magnetwindings and motor control contacts; and a motor controlled adjustablecurrent varying element, said manually controlled current varyingelement being in one of the relay magnet windings and the motorcontrolled current varying element being in the other relay magnetwinding.

6. An expression control device for musical instruments comprising amovable member, an electric motor connected to actuate said member, aremote manual control device for the motor comprising an adjustablerheostat, a sensitive relay having magnet windings arranged to carrycurrents in opposite directions, and motor control contacts; and a.motor controlled adjustable rheostat, said manually controlled rheostatbeing in one of the relay magnet windings and the motor controlledrheostat being in the other relay magnet winding.

7, An expression control device for musical instruments comprising amovable member, an electric motor connected to actuate said member, aremote manual control device for the motor, a sensitive relay betweenthe motor and the manual control device, said relay comprising a pair ofpole pieces, a polarized armature and motor circuit closers controlledthereby, yielding means for holding said armature away from the polepieces and the motor circuit closers open, opposed balanced means formagnetizing said pole pieces, and means actuated by the manual controldevice and by the motor for disturbing and restoring the magneticbalance of the relay to close and open said motor circuit closers.

8. An expression device for musical instruments comprising a movablemember, an electric motor connected to actuate said member, a remotemanual control device for the motor comprising an adjustable rheostat, asensitive relay having magnet windings arranged to carry currents inopposite directions, a pair of opposed pole pieces, a polarized armatureand motor circuit closers controlled thereby, and yielding means forholding' said armature between and away from said pole pieces and saidmotor circuit closers open; and a motor controlled adjustable rheostat,said manually controlled rheostat being in one of the relay magnetwindings and the motor controlled rheostat being in the other relaymagnet winding.

9. An expression control device for musical instruments comprising amovable member, a pair of solenoids connected to actuate said member,circuits for said solenoids, a remote manual control device for saidsolenoid circuits comprising an adjustable rheostat, a sensitive relayhaving magnet windings arranged to carry currents in oppositedirections, a pair of opposed pole pieces, a polarized armature andmotor circuit closers in the respective solenoid circuits controlledthereby, and yielding means for holding said armature between and awayfrom said pole pieces and said motor circuit closers open; and anadjustable rheostat controlled by said solenoids, said manuallycontrolled rheostat being in one of the relay magnet windings and thesolenoid controlled rheostat being in the other relay magnet winding. I

10. An expression control device for musical instruments comprising amovablemember, an electric motor connected to actuate said memberdifierent desired amounts and in opposite directions, a remote manualcontrol device electrically connected with said motor, and a two-wirecircuit for said control device.

11. An expression control device for musical instruments comprising amovable member, an electric motor connected to actuate said member,aremote manual control device for the motor, a sensitive relay balancedmagnetically between the motor and control device, means actuated by themanual control device and by the motor for disturbing and restoring themagnetic balance of the relay, a two-wire circuit from said relaycomprising a plurality of connecting sockets, a connecting plug adaptedto fit said sockets, and a pair of flexible wires between the manualcontrol device and said g 12. An expression control device for aphonograph having a driving motor and a sound passage comprising amovable valve in said sound passage, an electric motor connected toactuate said valve difi'er-ent desired amounts and in oppositedirections, a remote manual control device electrically connected withsaid motor, a two-wire circuit for said control device, and an automaticswitch in said circuit arranged to be actuated by said driving motor.

13. An expression control device for a phonograph having a driving motorand a sound passage, comprising a removable valve in said sound passage,a pair of alined solenoids, circuits therefor, a common core for saidsolenoids, a dzgh pot connected with said core, mechanical connectionsbetween the solenoid core and the movable valve, a remote manual controldevice for the motor comprisingan adjustable rheostat, a sensitive relayhaving magnet windings arranged to carry currents in oppositedirections, a

pair of opposed pole pieces, a polarized armature and motor circuitclosers controlled thereby, and yielding means for holding said armaturebetween and away from said pole pieces and said motor circuit closersopen; and a motor controlled adjustable rheostat, said manuallycontrolled rheostat being in one of the relay magnet windings and themotor controlled rheostat being in the other relay magnet winding, and atwo-wire circuit from said relay comprising a plurality of connectingsockets, a connecting plug adapted to fit said sockets; and a pair offlexible wires between the manual control device and said plug.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 20th day ofDecember, 1916. JAMES AKES BRYCE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). G.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 1,278,845, grantedSeptembemfi,

1918, upon the application of James Wares Bryce, of Bloomfield, -NewJerseyfor an improvement in Expression-Device Controls, errors appear inthe printed specification requiring correction usiollows: Page 3, line98, for the word -.=1se" read use: page 4, line 121, claim 13, for theword removable reed )nO'UGbYp; and

that the said Letters Patent should-be read with these correctionstherein that the same may conform to the. record of the cese in thePatent Of'rice.

Signed and sealed this 22d day of OctobertA. D., 1918;

semi B. .F. HITEHEAD,

Abt'ing Commissioner of Patents. O1. 274 -1.

'Cerrectiens m Letters Patent No. 1,278,845.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 1,278,845, grantedSeptember- 17 1918, upon the epplicaticn of James Wares Bryce, ofBloomfieli-New Jerseyfor an improvement in Expression-Device Controls,errors appear in the printed epecilication requiririg correction asfollowsz-Pege 3, line 98, for the word r-eso."

read use: page 4, line 121, claim 13, for the word removable readmovable; and

that the said Letters Patent should be read with these correctionstherein that the same may conform to the record of the case in thePatent Office.

Signed arid sealed this 22d day of October, A. D., 1918.

smj R. .F. HITEHEAI);

Abting Commissioner of Patents.

